Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan, whom I would call the mother of modern feminism, wrote the opus The Feminine Mystique about "the problem that has no name". This book really led many women to realize their current situations and started what gender studies historians term the second wave of feminism (we are supposedly in the third wave now).

In her work, Friedan explored the lack of opportunities available to women in post-World War II America. During the war, women had taken over factory jobs and sales jobs that had been vacated by men who left to fight. All of a sudden, society accepted women working in atypical roles: building materials for war, flying planes, etc. When the men came back from war, however, the women lost their jobs and were relegated back to the "homefront".

Betty Friedan later helped to found the National Organization for Women (NOW) and served as the first president of the organization. She still serves as a voice for feminism and women's rights more than forty years after the publishing of her influential work.

- About Betty Friedan
- Atlantic Monthly: Mystique of Betty Friedan
- Introduction to The Feminine Mystique